The poem “The Sacrifice” was inspired by events in the book “The Stand” by Steven King. Glen Bateman, Ralph Brentner, and Larry Underwood are all killed in the last portion of the book. Obstinately their deaths create the scenario that kills off the main bad guy. A character later states that God wants sacrifices, and because of this, his hands are quite ******. Did God really need to **** off these likable characters as a sacrifice, and if he didn’t get his gallons of blood, would the bad guy have won? Who knows.